PEORIA — Jurors took about 90 minutes Wednesday to find a North Valley man guilty of fatally shooting one person but innocent of injuring another.

The verdict means Cortez Williams faces at least 45 years and possibly up to life in prison when sentenced May 2 for the Sept. 21, 2013, death of Melvin Sanders. The Peoria County jury found him not guilty of shooting Keenan Hardy Jr., who was struck in the head with a bullet but lived.

It wasn’t in dispute that Williams shot Sanders. He admitted that to police last fall and then on the stand Wednesday morning. The trial focused on whether or not Williams acted in self-defense or whether he was “hunting” Sanders, whom he claimed punched him in the face a week prior.

Williams testified he was in the 1600 block of South Stanley Street about 11 p.m. Sept. 21, 2013, looking for women. He went there despite being attacked by Sanders the week before, he told jurors, because he knew the area and that’s where the women were.

He approached a group of people — a party with Sanders and several of his family members. When he heard Sanders say, “What’s up?”, he shot his .40-caliber handgun several times. That was the version he told police two days after the shooting.

On Wednesday, he told jurors he saw Sanders with a hand in his pocket. He got fearful, he testified, as he remembered seeing Sanders with a gun the previous week. So when Sanders started to pull his hand out of his pocket, he reacted.

During cross-examination, Assistant State’s Attorney Nancy Mermelstein repeatedly pointed out to Williams that he didn’t tell police that version last year, and that Williams repeatedly lied about the incident. Instead, she and fellow prosecutor Marcia Straub claimed he went back to Stanley Street to settle a score.

“He was the aggressor. He was the hunter and he went to Stanley Street with the intent to kill,” Straub said.

After the shooting, Antonio Hardy, one of Sanders’ cousins, chased after Williams in his Jeep.

A high-speed chase ensued in South Peoria that ended when Peoria police stopped Williams’ car near Western and Lincoln avenues. Mermelstein called Hardy a “hero,” saying he got involved and made sure the police were able to catch the man who shot Sanders.

Defense attorney Kevin Lowe argued prosecutors couldn’t prove their case, as no one got a good look at his client, who he said gave a credible retelling of what happened that night.

The defense attorney noted Williams didn’t wear a mask or gloves and didn’t try to hide who he was, a sign that showed Williams wasn’t out to get Sanders that night.

Page 2 of 2 - The double shooting came just days after KeiAmber Beard, who was related to Hardy and to Sanders, was fatally shot with her boyfriend, James A. Irby Jr., during a home invasion. No one has been charged in connection with those slayings or the break-in.

Andy Kravetz can be reached at 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @andykravetz.